Dramatic waves surfed at Panama's Playa Venao

20 April 2012 |
Surfing

Eighty surfers were knocked out of the 2012 ISA World Junior Surfing Championship. By the end of the day, just 116 of the record-number 303 athletes were still in the running for a spot on the three podiums.

“I always tell the competitors, I know everyone wants a medal, but you’ve got to be prepared to deal with that not happening. You’ve got hundreds of kids with the same hope and goal,” said Fernando Aguerre, the president of the ISA.

“That’s part of the beauty of personality, of character, being able to cope with defeat; that’s part of life. Life is not a rose garden. Life is a bunch of good things, of bad things, good times and bad times. You just have to use the good times as a springboard for the bad times and endure.”

Hawaii’s Kalani David stood, France’s Nomme Mignot and South Africa's Max Armstrong only knew who would keep surfing at the shoreline, with their respective teams. Emotional, but it was Mignot and the French team who were jumping and screaming and clapping hands.

“I hate that feeling, being tense; I prefer to know that I won the heat in the water, but it feels good to cry a bit,” Mignot said afterward, dark sunglasses covering up his eyes.

“I didn’t think I surfed very well, and I saw the South African rip a wave, and then Kalani David was destroying it out there, so I really didn’t know where I was [in the rankings]. Those were some very suspenseful moments.”